Report: No Evidence of Drunken Spaceflights

An internal NASA investigation has found no evidence that astronauts have been allowed to fly drunk, CNN is reporting, breaking news on an internal agency report scheduled for release later today.

The investigation was sparked by allegations reported by a NASA health care review committee in July that NASA astronauts had on at least two instances been strapped into the cockpit so intoxicated that they posed a risk to flight safety.

According to that original report, found here:

Interviews with both flight surgeons and astronauts identified some episodes of heavy use of alcohol by astronauts in the immediate pre-flight period, which has led to flight safety concerns. Alcohol is freely used in crew quarters. Two specific instances were described where astronauts had been so intoxicated prior to flight that flight surgeons and/or fellow astronauts raised concerns to local on-scene leadership regarding flight safety.

The allegations immediately prompted new rules banning alcohol consumption within 12 hours of a flight, as well as the current review. Startling news, of course, although as a confirmed two-drink flyer myself, I can personally sympathize with anyone wanting to stiffen their backbone before blasting off in the shuttle.

The full report will be released online at 11 AM Eastern Time here, and will be discussed at a news conference at 1:30 Eastern Time, which will be streamed online byNASA TV.

UPDATE: The full reportis out, and as previously reported, investigators say they've found no verifiable evidence that astronauts were flying drunk.

According to the document, main investigator Brian O'Connor interviewed more than
90 crew members and support staff, reviewed safety and mishap reports, and inspected crew quarters. He did not have the ability to legally compel witness testimony, or study private medical records, he noted.

Ultimately,
O'Connor agrees that he is relying on other people's testimony. But in his report, it's clear that he sees little way for astronauts who are constantly under scrutiny, and responsible for other people's lives, to have wound up dangerously drunk on launch day.

Although my review revealed that alcohol is available to crew members in their crew quarters, I heard no accounts of it being used during work hours or beyond the mandatory sleep period. The people involved in launch day activities in crew quarters found it hard to believe that a crew member would put his or her mission and crew members at risk by showing up impaired for a spaceflight...

The lack of privacy on launch day makes it nearly impossible to hide alcohol use or alcohol-induced impairment. Could a crew member drink to the point of inebriation in his/her room the night before launch?
Certainly, but from the time the crew wakes on launch morning, they are surrounded by other astronauts , managers, support crew, television
(TV) cameramen, still photographers, crew quarters staff and others.

Will this put the drunken-astronaut allegations to rest? Probably not entirely, since it was, after all, an internal review. But it may at least help to defuse the issue for now.

(Photo Credit: NASA)